“The kestrel itself is a little bit smaller than a pigeon,” says Hawks. “They’re the smallest of North America’s falcons. They have triangular-shaped wings for speed, long tail for agility. And the males are blue wings. The females are brown wings. So, we could tell it was a male. And it just took off a minute ago, and it cackled, making a vocal noise, defending its territory.”

Kestrel numbers are falling everywhere, with a big drop in the southern Rockies and Colorado Plateau. The Peregrine Fund is organizing a national research project with professional and citizen scientists to help unravel the mystery. Hawkwatch in Utah is looking for volunteers to track kestrel families. It’s got 120 nesting boxes in urban areas, as well as nature preserves like this, the Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area. Volunteers will watch pairs and help band chicks. They’ll also monitor the fledglings learning to fly.

Dave Oleyar watches a male and a female through binoculars.

“I live for this, to be able to work with these birds,” says Oleyar. “They’re super cool, and raptors, in general, are very inspiring by how agile they are in the air and how they hunt. But to be able to see them set up and use boxes that we’re putting out for habitat for them is very rewarding and, scientifically, it’s interesting. But, just quite frankly, its cool. You want to get people out here to see that sort of thing.”

Related Content

Two energy companies are seeking permission to drill in the Ouray National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Utah. The federal agency reviewing the proposal is now ready to hear from the public.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been working for two years with the companies behind the drilling plans. Thurston Energy and Ultra Resources plan a total of 11 wells in their separate projects. The Uinta Basin already has over 10,000 oil and gas wells, so the new ones might not seem like much. But the wildlife refuge exists to safeguard wildlife and its habitat.